Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely 3)

The look she gave him was not cruel, but it wasn’t inviting at all. “Yes, and you are?”

“Seth.”

“The new queen’s mortal consort.” She lifted another game piece absently. “Of course you are. Not many mortals would know my name, but your queen is—”

“She’s not my queen,” he interrupted. Somehow that particular clarification felt important just then. “She’s my girlfriend. I’m not anyone’s subject.”

“I see.” She lowered the violet carving and straightened the voluminous skirts she wore. “Well then, Seth who is not a subject, what brings you to my presence?”

“I want to be a faery.” He looked at her without flinching.

Sorcha moved the game board away. A flicker of what might be interest flashed over her face. “That’s a bold request…and not one to answer without contemplation.”

She could fix everything. She has the power to do it.

An elaborate tapestry was pushed aside, and another beautiful, seemingly emotionless faery appeared from behind it. He could’ve been one of her game pieces: perfectly still and inhuman. As Seth looked at him, he realized that this was the same faery who’d watched Niall fight with Bananach in the Crow’s Nest.

“Devlin,” she murmured. “I believe my new mortal needs a resting space for the time, and a reminder of the dangers of impertinence. Would you tend to that while I ponder things?”

“It is my honor.” The faery bowed slightly, and then he calmly reached out and gripped Seth’s neck.

Devlin lifted Seth by the throat and squeezed, applying pressure to his windpipe.

Seth couldn’t breathe. He struggled, kicking out at Devlin, but everything went dark and he fell into unconsciousness.

CHAPTER 21

“You all right?” Carla asked Aislinn softly as they waited for Rianne to come out of the restroom. She took a while to apply the makeup her mother forbade her to wear to school. “Sick?”

“No.”

“Do you want to talk? You look…off.” The words were hesitant, but they were still there. Carla had become mothering with both Aislinn and Rianne.

“Seth and I—” Aislinn started, but a sob threatened at the thought of finishing that sentence. She stopped the words before the tears at the end of that admission could fall. Saying it aloud in this world made it too real. “He’s not…here. We had a sort of fight.”

Carla hugged her. “It’ll be okay. He loves you. He’s been waiting around for you forever.”

“I don’t know.” Aislinn tried not to look at the faeries who stood invisibly in the hall. “He took off or something.”

“Seth?”

Aislinn nodded. It was all she could do. A part of her wished she could talk to Carla, to Rianne, to someone, but the person she talked to was missing—and telling Carla all about it would mean skirting the truth or admitting truths that Aislinn couldn’t quite handle. Mortals really didn’t belong in the world of faeries.

“He’s gone.” She looked at Carla and at the faeries behind her and whispered, “And it hurts.”

Her friend made comforting noises, and her faeries stroked their hands over her hair and face. Once that would have terrified her, but now their touches comforted her. The faeries were hers. They were her reason now, her focus and her responsibility. I need them. And they needed her; they weren’t going to ever leave her. Her court needed her. That truth was a comfort as she went through the motions of the school day yet again.

Faeries weren’t often in the school. The metal and plethora of religious symbols made them uncomfortable. Yet, throughout the day, her faeries surrounded her. Siobhan sat beside her in an empty desk during study hall. Eliza sang a lullaby during lunch. The soft cadence of her words was matched by affectionate brushes of faery hands as her guard and other assorted faeries came by without any reason but to show her they cared. This is my family. Her court was more than a collection of strangers or strange creatures. Their love didn’t make all the pain go away, but it helped. They helped. That sense of being cosseted in her court’s embrace was a salve on her injured heart—and it was all that helped.

After school, Aislinn didn’t race to see Keenan, but her steps as she went up the stairs to the loft were hurried. Being there, surrounded by her king and court, made her feel a sense of security she lacked outside the building.

She still went to school, and she still spent some nights at home with Grams, but in the eighteen days since Seth had vanished, her attempts to reenter her old life had stopped. She didn’t see or call her friends. She didn’t go anywhere alone. She was safest with Keenan. Together, they were stronger. Together in their loft, they were safer.

After the first couple days, he’d learned not to ask any awkward questions about how she was doing or how she felt or—worst of all—if Seth had called yet. Instead he gave her tasks to keep her distracted. Between schoolwork and court business and the new self-defense training, she’d been exhausted enough that she slept at least a few hours every night.

Sometimes, Keenan mentioned in passing that he’d not had any progress on finding Seth. But we will, he promised. It was only slow because they’d been cautious in their inquiries. Letting Seth’s absence become public could endanger him, he’d explained. If he’s left us, he’s vulnerable. It made things slower than she wanted, but endangering him—is he already in danger?—wasn’t an option she liked at all. Whether he left her by choice or not didn’t matter. She still loved him.

All they’d learned so far was that he’d gone to the Crow’s Nest and spent hours with Damali, a dreadlocked singer he’d once sort-of dated. The guards hadn’t seen him leave; a tussle with several Ly Ergs who’d captured one of the younger Summer Girls had called their attention away. When they returned to the Crow’s Nest, Seth had slipped out, but Skelley had spoken to him afterward. He was safe in his home, Skelley repeated. I don’t know how he left. He’s never done so before. Seth left stealthily; he took Boomer; he sounded excited. The evidence didn’t add up. Did he go willingly? The only reason to believe he hadn’t was that it seemed out of character.